The indomitable Helen Mirren was honored with the 2014 Fellowship Award at last night’s BAFTAs. It was presented by Jeremy Irons and Prince William, who quipped that he should probably call Helen “granny.” You can see Helen’s acceptance below and a full list of winners is here. She opened by honoring her drama teacher, who passed at 102 just two weeks ago. Helen also invited some audience participation by asking her colleagues to put their hands up if they had a teacher who helped shape their careers. At the end of her speech she read some lines from The Tempest about acting transcending death or something but she never credited Shakespeare nor gave the source, I had to google it.
Helen wore this fabulous navy blue Jacques Azagury sequin gown that fit her like a glove and featured a skirt with tulle accents. On another actress this look might not work, but on Helen it’s perfect. She is just gorgeous and I love her asymmetric hair.
I’m also including some lesser-known (for us, no offense to our British readers) British actresses who stood out for me last night. Here’s Samantha Barks, she was in Les Mis and also the Disney series Groove High. She looks amazing in this white Calvin Klein gown. I love those gorgeous huge pearls she’s sporting. This is how you accessorize a simple gown. She’s not even wearing earrings because she absolutely does not need them.
I know Ruth Wilson from “Luther,” where she plays a villain whom I absolutely loathe. (I’ve only seen a couple of episodes. Despite how enjoyable it is to watch Idris, the show is too intense for me.) She was also in The Lone Ranger and Saving Mr. Banks. Ruth is wearing Antonio Berardi which… looks awful. This menswear-inspired suit is silver, it has a built-in corset looking thing, there’s a touch of red in that corset, which is turned up and folded bizarrely, and she has on matchy gold shoes with red accents. Plus her hair is a mess.
I guess it could be worse. Remember what she wore to the pre-BAFTA party? You can see Ruth’s many other questionable fashion choices on GoFugYourself.
Gwendoline Christie plays Brienne of Tarth on Game of Thrones and holy crap she cleans up nice. I didn’t recognize her at all. I don’t have a designer ID on her gown, but it’s kind of a snore anyway. It’s Christie’s styling that is really the star. And her legs.
Photo credit: WENN.com
I like the top but not the bottom of Helen’s dress.
Gwendoline is gorgeous.
She looks amazing but a bit frilly I think. She is still fab… WHAT is Ruth Wilson wearing in both shots, it doesn’t do her any favours. I do like the Gwendoline and man does she have some legs..
Gwendoline looks hot and so strong! <3
Drooling over the pearls.
Me too! They´re gorgeous!! 🙂
I don’t know that Ruth Wilson person but I actually love the look!
Me too!
I love it – I would wear every part of it.
Samantha looks amazing and Gwendoline looks great too.
I love the look, don’t understand why you think its bad.
helen looks amazing!!!!!! in fact people were generally better dressed for the bafta as opposed to the golden globes
The BAFTA’s fashion is all over the place isn’t it? I’ve never realized how the women just wear what looks great! Suits or dress (cocktail or ballgown). It’s really fun! I wish some of the Hollywood awards shows were more like this.
I adore Helen but her whole look here was a miss for me. The bangs/fringe was too… flat? Blunt? Something was off. And she seemed to enjoy the dress but I thought it was too much. The flounce + frou-frou + cut-out panels +beading – Helen Mirren does not need all that distracting from her awesome bod and great face.
She rocked those earrings though!
Helen looks stunning. Best dressed of the night for me.
BTW did anyone else cringe at Jeremy Irons’ tribute to her? In one short speech, he managed to tell us three times that Helen is sexy. You would think she was a lap dancer rather than one of Britain’s most acclaimed actresses, a woman who’s been at the top of her game for decades. It was particularly excruciating when he referred to her in ‘Prime Suspect’ as being ‘middle-aged but still sexy’ as though women suddenly became decrepit when they hit their 40s.
Ugh. I love Irons as an actor, but this reminded me of how smarmy he really is.
I just saw “Saving Mr. Banks” yesterday and Ruth was gorgeous in that movie! Sadly she looks like a mess here. Dame Helen looks awesome and Samantha Barks is SO pretty.
I can never get over the about turn Helen Mirren has done in her attitude to the industry. She used to be a hardcore rebel who railed against everything especially the royal family, and now look at her……
Not disappointed, just amazed.
I do enjoy how much fun she’s having with it all. Ditto Emma Thompson.
Dame Helen looked luminous. I cheered out loud when she won and my husband gave me the side-eye.
I loved everything about Ruth Wilson’s outfit, including the hair. It was a great fit on her and she wore it with panache.
Re: Gwedolyn Christie. I’m thinking of those rumors about her and Hiddles and some very naughty images are coming to mind. She’s smoking.
Dame Helen didn’t really ‘win’. The BAFTA Fellowship is an annual honour given for a lifetime contribution to British cinema, and it had been announced in advance that Helen would be this year’s recipient.
You’re right ‘win’ is not the right term. I should have said accepted her award.
Well Helen Mirren looks wonderful but I absolutely love how Samantha Barks is dressed, I mean god she hit it out of the park in my opinion. The rest are really just okay, nothing special but nothing utterly awful either!
Samantha Barks really looks flawless but…
Seeing Gwendoline like this gave me shivers! She’s so strong and masculine on GoT and here she looks absolutely stunning, so feminine. Brienne’s definitely one of my favorite characters and I’ve wanted to see Gwendoline on a carpet for awhile now and…she does not disappoint.
Gah, is it April 6 yet?!
Agree with every word. Beginning to think we were separated at birth.
We might have been, because I was just reading your posts on another thread and was like…who dat is? Me? Oh no, you again LOL
Helen…….lovely, just lovely.
Thought Helen’s dress could have dropped the beading/feathers, but the fit was amazing!
The Wilson ensemble looks like a disco matador. I get she’s a good actress, so hope she gets some decent movie roles soon- LR and Saving Mr Banks didn’t really require her to do much!
Samantha Barks was AMAZING in Les Mis! Thank you for featuring her today.
Those red accents on Ruth’s suit look like parentheses around her uterus. WTH.
That dress is dead set hideous, sorry Helen.